It’s all in the preparation
I’ve been speaking, training and consulting for over twenty years and one of the things that still surprises me is the comments I get from participants about my presentations. I’m regularly told “gee you make everything seem so easy”, or “how do you remember all that?”. There is no real secret to presenting, making things look easy or remembering things. It just takes practice. I recently presented a program for a client to educate their organisation on some new software. I was familiar with the programs and whilst I could have just turned up and spoken about the programs to the audience, I …
It will take more than 5 minutes!
One of the challenges with being a professional speaker, trainer and educator in the field of productivity with everyday technology is managing expectations. I’ve lost track of the number of presentations where at the end someone comes up and says, “I just have a [quick/simple/easy/or insert other related word] question.” Most of them want to explain their document or spreadsheet to me. What it is doing or not doing and want me to tell them in that exact moment how to fix it. When I tell them I need to ask questions or require more information, they are often disappointed. Some will even say, I “Googled it, …
Pet Peeves
One of my pet peeves is people or organisations that “hide” behind email or text messaging to avoid difficult conversations. If I’ve decided I don’t want to work with someone, I pick up the phone, let them know and give them feedback as to why. If I mess up, I also prefer to pick up the phone and explain myself rather than send an email. If someone else has messed up, I prefer to chat with them, let them know that things happen and focus on what we are going to do to fix or rectify the situation. When we …
What do your colleagues know?
I recently worked with a digital marketing manager and one of her team. They were reviewing two sets of data that needed to be compared and decisions made to determine if the data was up to date. They were both quite skilled with Excel…..and that was the problem. They were exploring creating a complicated formula that would check one to the other when I was asked for feedback. A few clarifying questions and some simple suggestions that didn’t require formulas of any kind, enabled them to have a short discussion and support each other in finding a simplistic solution that …
Time vs Money
I recently keynoted at a professional industry group luncheon on a range of quick Word & Excel tips, tricks and shortcuts. As part of the presentation I asked people to share their top 3 tips from the presentation on a card, which they gave back to me at the end of the program. I mention the 3 tips card at the start of my presentations to act as a reminder that I want them to walk away with tools they can immediately use. I want to make their investment of time worthwhile, because I believe time is more valuable than …
Specific is better than generic
Specific is better than generic. That’s why we have specialist doctors. Whilst we may initially visit a general doctor for a referral to say, a cardiologist, we ultimately go to specialist doctors for help with specialised needs. So why is it when we come across a problem, such as how to do something in Excel, Word or even Outlook, the default position is to go to Google for the answer? A search via Google will instantaneously bring up a buffet of resources for you or your team to work their way through. However valuable time is lost looking for the …
Don’t you get nervous?
It’s a question I’m often asked after I present at a conference or conduct an in-house professional development program for a client. Whilst I’ve been presenting or training for over 20 years, I still get butterflies in my stomach before I present. I’ve grown to understand that this Is a good thing. It means I’m excited and keen to give all that I can to my audiences to help them get more productive! What I also recognise is this it is not the same for everyone, especially if you only present once every now and then. So what I do …
Every one is NOT like you!
When I was a child, my mother used to espouse the old adage… “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Whilst we know that not everyone will like you, it’s important to also know not everyone is like you. What’s the difference? Often when I speak to people about sharing ideas or information with their team, all I hear is frustration. For example, a finance manager who tried to upskill one of his team members by presenting her with, what was for him a life changing book, on how to use various Excel features. A few …
Optimisation
Optimisation Nelson Mandela once said “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” At the start of the week, it often seems like we have so much to do, but often it just “feels” that way. One easy way to get what needs to be done out of your head is to do a simple brain dump. Take a blank piece of paper (or utilise the task feature in your email program) and simply jot down all the things you need to do. It doesn’t matter if they are business or personal, just get it all out! Once you’ve got it …
Asset vs Liability
Awhile ago, recruitment company Hays said it can cost up to 2 1/2 times an employee’s salary to replace them when they leave an organisation. Now sometimes you can stop people from leaving because maybe there was something missing that they were looking for in the organisation and that’s the only reason that they’re leaving. However, in a lot of instances, organisations tend to look at their staff as a liability rather than an asset. Realistically human capital is the most expensive thing in a business today. Sure you can have equipment, but equipment you can “rely” on in general …
